VOA Journalist Named One of Ukraine's Most Influential Women

Myroslava Gongadze, the host of VOA's popular Ukrainian language television news program, Chas-Time, has been named one of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine.

Myroslava Gongadze, the host of VOA's popular Ukrainian language television news program, Chas-Time, has been named one of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine.

Ms. Gongadze is 52nd on this year's Focus magazine list, which includes women from politics, business, the media and other fields. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko topped the popular Ukrainian weekly news magazine's annual list. Last year, Ms. Gongadze was 91st.

VOA Director Danforth W. Austin said, "We are extremely pleased to see Ms. Gongadze recognized for her work and dedication to quality journalism and for the impact her efforts have in Ukraine."

The 38 year old Gongadze says she is "honored to be named to the list and happy to be able to provide Voice of America's viewers unbiased and comprehensive news coverage." At the same time she said, "I feel a great responsibility to keep their trust, especially in these times when the freedom of the press in Ukraine is under attack."

Ms. Gongadze received political asylum in the United States in 2001 following the murder of her husband, journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Ms. Gongadze continues to seek justice in her husband's case and is a leading advocate for press freedom.

During a recent panel discussion at the National Endowment for Democracy, Ms. Gongadze expressed alarm at what she described as an "increase in harassment of independent media and individual journalists in Ukraine."

The latest research figures indicate VOA television programs have an estimated weekly audience of more than 4.5 million adults in Ukraine. Programs may be streamed from the VOA Ukrainian website www.voanews.com/ukrainian.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 123 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages and are intended exclusively for audiences outside of the United States.